by Hugh Fitzgerald (March 2007)
Ci-gît Jacques d’Iraq. He deserted the West.
Radix malorum cupiditas est.
Epitaphe d’un homme d’état
Prie Dieu, prie Dieu, prie Dieu derechef.
Avvakum (trans. Pierre Pascal)
The classic example of American film noir is the 1941 The Maltese Falcon, in which John Huston made his directorial debut. The film revolved around the search for a fabulously valuable bejeweled falcon, made by the Knights Templar on the isle of
For some years American filmmakers have contemplated a remake. Amazingly, a story about another fabulous bejeweled falcon, involving people at the very highest level of world politics, has surfaced and it happens to be true. I tell the tale that I heard told. The story begins in the late-1970s. The war in
Decades earlier, in the waning days of World War II, a mild-mannered American had befriended a Frenchman. The friendship deepened during the period of the Marshall Plan. In the years that followed, while the American became an academic, the Frenchman became a very rich contractor, particularly rich from work he performed in the Arab oil states during the 1970s.
At the end of that decade the American happened to be in
The story made sense. Desert Arabs are known to love falconry; for the richest, bustard-hunting safaris as far away as
What about the other falcon, the one the Frenchman said had been given to that political figure, Monsieur X? In the
All this cries out for a remake of The Maltese Falcon, and what a wonderful film it could be. The French version originale bears the unusual title
Le Défi de la farfouille, but American audiences will undoubtedly see it under a more straightforward and less allusive title — say, The Arabian Falcon. Think of it. Scenes of the
Such a big-budget film will surely require an international cast worthy of the theme. Possibly Anthony Hopkins could play the corrupt and dissolute politician. Christopher Walken might be his trustworthy and sinister aide. John Malkovich would be perfect as the French-speaking C.I.A. agent determined to expose both the French politician, and similarly corrupt Americans, members of his own agency, including a former station chief in Jiddah who turned out to be responsible for the deaths of three of his fellow agents. The beautiful Persian Jewish spy who helps to uncover the full extent of the conspiracy — she is known as Leila to the enemy, though her real name is Esther — ideally should be played by Laura Morante or Erika Marozsan. Finally, the casting director could scarcely do better than enlist the services of Arielle Dombasle, Laetitia Casta, and Emmanuelle Béart as the expensive trio of friendly genuflectors. And just imagine what it would do to box-office receipts if, just before the movie went into distribution, the missing Arabian Falcon — the very one given to that prominent Frenchman as part of top-secret Project Majnoon, that plan which almost succeeds in establishing, on behalf of the Jihad, a vast network of bribed and co-opted political figures, diplomats, arms salesmen, intelligence agents, academics, and journalists, through all the capitals of the Western world — were finally, clamorously, tellingly to be found.
Avec privilège et approbation
Imprimerie de la Vérité
Hugh Fitzgerald contributes regularly to The Iconoclast, our Community Blog. Click here to see all his contributions, on which comments are welcome.
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